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Virgin Hyperloop One to link Mumbai – Pune in 25 minutes

Travel from Mumbai to Pune in just 25 minutes !! You read it right. Maharashtra government will build a hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai beginning with an operational demonstration track in 2-3 years and with complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in 5-7 years.

Virgin Group Founder and Virgin Hyperloop One chairman Sir Richard Branson announced the framework agreement in the presence of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to initiate the development of the route under the auspices of the Magnetic Maharashtra event.

What is interesting is India may be the first market for Hyperloop One and will debut even before Middle East, Northern Europe or United States of America, where Hyperloop One is considering rolling out its service. Expect the cost of travel to be pegged at almost the same price as travelling in a cab or airplane.

This system will connect 26 million people and support 150 million passenger trips per year.

“The 100 per cent electric, efficient system will also ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 86,000 tons over 30 years,” said Branson on his blog.

While key details such as the total cost of the project and an exact timeline of launch are yet to be finalised, it will take some time before Hyperloop as a transportation comes to India.

“Mumbai-Pune is one of the most busiest routes in the world, anybody who uses it regularly knows it can be unpleasant route to travel on. The study just shows that the opportunity is enormous and the government is welcoming it with open arms and they are working very closely with us to make it happen. Three years from now we will finish the test run on this route and six to seven years from now the route will be commercially opened,” informed Branson.

Hyperloop is the next-generation train system, which uses a magnetic levitation and a low-pressure transit tube. The high-speed train network has been visualised as an alternative to short distance air travel and the existing train network. One can expect speeds reaching over 700 mph, which is around 1126 kilometres per hour. Currently the fastest train in India would be Talgo at 180 km per hour, though this is still under test run.

The Hyperloop concept was first proposed by Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. It should be noted that Musk is no longer directly involved in the development of this technology.